SNAP to request meeting with Pope Francis

The choice of Pope Francis is not only the turning of a page in history, but for victims of clergy sex abuse, it offers an opportunity.

Among those who would like to speak to the new pope is a group that advocates for the victims of clergy sex abuse.

WISN 12 News reporter Nick Bohr caught-up with Milwaukee's co-founder of the Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, Peter Isely, as he left for Chicago to announce the group is sending a letter to the new pope asking to meet.

"We have a pope who has apparently invoked as his spiritual guide and shelter Francis of Assisi. I was assaulted by a Franciscan priest. So it's personally very important to me," Isely said.

Isely was sexually abused as a 13-year-old student at St. Lawrence Seminary in Fond du Lac and has championed church reform for two decades.

"That's the first thing we feel he has to do is institute worldwide zero tolerance for sex abuse. There is no worldwide rule right now in the Catholic Church if you're a priest and you assault a child that you will be removed from the priesthood, so, that's dangerous," Isely said.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki doubts there will be a different message from the Vatican, saying the church is addressing the crisis.

"I'm sure he'll make some statement about it. However, I think the church has already made public statements through Benedict and John Paul II," Listecki said.

"Of course things need to be handled differently, especially here in Milwaukee, which is so important to this whole abuse crisis. This is Ground Zero in many ways. We have the bankruptcy. We have 570 victims," Isely said. "Francis was the greatest reformer in the history of the Catholic Church, and that's exactly the kind of man we need."

A letter is being sent by overnight express, fax, and email to the Vatican. Isely said he's truly not sure what to expect.

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